It is possible to be an atheist in Montana but you have to work at it. It requires shutting your eyes to the beauty around you and that can be dangerous. You might bump into a tree, tumble down a mountain or fall into a river, maybe all three. At night, when those masterpieces are hidden, the stars come out to let you know that God is vast, brilliant and in control of his universe. When my heart is troubled, I drink in the calm quiet of the night sky with its massive stars in infinite numbers at unimaginable distances. It comforts me to know every star is named by God and placed exactly where he wants it to be. But there is something different about the ocean. It speaks to me of God in another way.
We recently made a trip to the Oregon coast. There is value in maintaining a normal routine after a loss, but there is also value in taking time to get away from that routine and rest. We needed that. Reed and I went to college in Salem, Oregon, which is only an hour away from the Pacific coast, so we had lots of opportunities to go. One of our favorite places to go was Lincoln City, so that is where we booked a condo. My favorite beach, Gleneden, is nearby, and was not even very crowded on the sunny afternoon we spent there. It had been a long time since I heard the voice of the ocean and, through it, the voice of God.
The ocean is not calm, remote and quiet like the stars. The sea seethes and roars its way to shore. The same powerful waves chop the water and caress the sand. The God of the sea is vast, but He is also powerful and loud. He is not passively watching from the heavens to see what happens to the people and planet He created. He actively moves both nature and man in the tide of his timeless purposes.
I sat in the sand watching the tide go out and relaxing at the womb-like sounds of the sea. Sometimes I shut my eyes to the beauty around me so I could talk to God and listen to Him. It is possible to ignore the Voice of the ocean, but you have to shut your mind.
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